May 24, 2006

Cavs back for more subsidies

After getting $73 million in public money for construction of the Gund Arena back in 1994, the Cleveland Cavaliers have apparently decided it's time to ask for some more. This time, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is seeking cut-rate loans from the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority to build a $20 million practice facility in suburban Independence; he is also looking to use tax-increment financing, whereby a share of the team's property tax payments would get kicked back to repay the arena loans. (I haven't been able to find details on how much of the cost would be repaid by TIFs - you'd think this is something the local news media might have wanted to ask.)

For extra bonus irony, the man seeking these low-cost public-backed loans is owner not just of the Cavs, but of the online mortgage company Quicken Loans. Rather than seeing this as a reason to ask him to finance his own damn practice facility, though, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said it was an added incentive for the tax-break plan, since it would, in the words of Jackson's chief of staff (as paraphrased by the Cleveland Plain Dealer), "send a message to businesses, including Quicken Loans, that Cleveland is a friendly, cooperative place to do business." Sounds like somebody's been paid a visit by the site location consultants.